Gun Caliber
Gun Caliber (ガンキャリバー) is a low budget independent tokusatsu film produced by Garage Hero. It is the first tokusatsu film filmed entirely in Japan to star and be produced/directed by a non-Japanese. The film has met with mixed reactions and been slandered by viewers for its scenes of violence, coarse language, mature themes, and crude humor yet also praised for those very same reasons plus its stylized action which is influenced heavily by Heisei Kamen Rider and Hong Kong Action Cinema. It has won the "Omega Award" at CIM Sueca Film Festival in Spain and beat out Noboro Iguchi's Nuiguruma-Z for the People's Choice Award at Sitges Film Festival also in Spain. The film's sequel, Strega is currently in production. Plot "''It is the year, 20XX AD. The evil organization known as '“Skulldier”''' is hell-bent on taking over Japan – well, right after they finish their lunch break – with a device known as the “Gen Drive”. But one man stands in their way… Soma Kusanagi. He may be your average, miserable, Smartball Parlor employee in Tokyo’s Old Town, but when evil rears its ugly face on the Japanese metropolis, he transforms into the gun-slinging superhero GUN CALIBER! He’s a hero who likes his bullets fast and his women even faster… a hero who can beat down evil as if it was his ex-wife! From the creative Filipino-Canadian mind of indie tokusatsu director Bueno and his ragtag Tokyo based film group GARAGE HERO, “GUN CALIBER” is a drunk, sexy, euphoric, action packed, Tour-de-Force that’s so hot, you’ll wish your face could melt… …but then realize it has!"'' Characters ''to be added Cast * Bueno as "Soma Kusanagi/Gun Caliber" * Sakurako Fujiwara as "Izumi Sakurai" * Yuyu Umenaga as "Momoko/Flamingo Pink" * Joey Min as "Tengu" * Karintou as "Birabiran" Notes * The film was a labor of love for the crew of Garage Hero as it took two and a half years to shoot. Everyone was only available on weekends and shoots were sporadic due to everyone's schedules. * The film's theme song "Shining" is sung by former AV actress, Uta Kohaku. * As Bueno suffered from writer's block, he decided to shoot the movie without a script. Thus, the movie was ad-libbed for the entire two and a half years of production. * Bueno flew in his friend Joey Min from New Jersey all the way to Tokyo to help his choreograph the action for Gun Caliber. The film's action scenes were choreographed and shot on their respective days. Half of the action scenes were choreographed by the producer/film's lead, Bueno, while the other half and the film's finale was choreographed by Joey Min. The climactic fight between Gun Caliber and Tengu took 15 hours to shoot. * Half way through production, Bueno's older brother passed away. To honor him, Bueno made his character of Soma Kusanagi, have traits similar to that of his late brother. * After the initial first cut of the film was completed, there was still the film's soundtrack to complete. Many of the film's followers were growing impatient. and to curtail this, Producer Bueno released a "Bootleg Edition" of the film on Garage Hero's YouTube channel for limited viewing. The bootleg edition contained music that Bueno himself handpicked would suit each scene in the movie such as "Tokyo Shoeshine Boy", "Inakappe Dai-Chan" and rock music from his favorite videogames. * Bueno enlisted the help of Koichi Terasawa (the bassist of Kamen Rider rock band, Rider Chips) to help him complete the soundtrack for Gun Caliber. Terasawa produced the song "Rise up to the win" to be used as an insert song for Gun Caliber's final action scene. It is performed by Tornado Grenade, a rock band produced by Terasawa in which his son also plays the bass. * Principal photography was two and a half years, post-production took another two years. The film was halted for 3 years as there was no-one to finish the film's soundtrack. The film was finally completed and released through underground movie label, SRS Cinema in 2017 on Bluray, DVD, and VHS for hardcore movie collectors. * The film was later cut into a 13 episode web-series and is free to view on Garage Hero's YouTube channel. The series is currently subtitled in English and Spanish. * The film was influential to an individual on the verge of suicide who quote: "Watching Gun Caliber made me laugh and brought me out of a dark place. It saved my life." External Links * Gun Caliber on home video (SRS Cinema) * Garage Hero Official Website References Category:Gun Caliber